The jibes continue

It'll be endless Stalin and Uncle Joe jibes for Gordon Brown now after last week's attack from ex-Cabinet Secretary Lord Turnbull.

Lord Turnbull: strips have been torn off him

But at least, the much-abused Chancellor has found a champion the man who wants him to revive faith in politics when Tony Blair finally pushes off.

Sir Alistair Graham, the outspoken anti-sleaze watchdog effectively sacked by Mr Blair, tore a right strip off Lord Turnbull at the weekend.

The former top mandarin, who famously criticised the Chancellor's "Stalinist ruthlessness", was open to "the charge of hypocrisy", said Sir Alistair on BBC Radio 4's The Week in Westminster.

After all, the watchdog recalled how "holier than thou" Lord Turnbull had been in criticising Sir Christopher Meyer, formerly Britain's ambassador to the US, for breaking ministerial confidences in his DC Confidential memoirs

"I'm not sure that it's really good news for ex-Cabinet Secretaries, or any senior civil servant, or minister, or special advisers to be talking in detail about their relationships with politicians when they were public servants.

"Because everyone relies on a degree of: we're talking in confidence and trust", he opined.

Us hacks will beg to differ but here's hoping that Gordon is appreciative.

Sir Alistair, whose post as chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life is pointedly not being renewed by Mr Blair, is banking on the Chancellor to revive faith in politics when and if he takes over as Prime Minister.